Happy Birthday, Fuzzy Brows!
by Bread-Making-Viking
Summary: Today is Lee's birthday! But why does it seem like no one remembers? Meanwhile, Sakura is experiencing problems of her own... What will she end up giving Lee for his birthday? Saku/Lee


Happy Birthday, Fuzzy Brows'

by: kougayurizoku

A one-shot inspired by Lee's Birthday, which is November 27.

Dedicated to misaomaniac, my best friend in the whole world, who adores the Beautiful Green Wild Beast so much that she carries him (in the form of a key chain) around with her wherever she goes.

Today was a very special day for the Beautiful Green Wild Beast of Konoha. Not only was it the day that Lee successfully ran twelve laps around the Hidden Leaf Village with his favorite mentor, Gai-sensei, but it was also his birthday!

The day had started off wonderfully when Gai-sensei met him in front of his house early that morning for their daily daybreak exercises.

During their warm-up, conversation was not present due to their serious concentration. However, when they were in the middle of their eleventh lap around the village, Gai-sensei decided to start preparing his student for his plans that were to take place later on in the day. He was secretly arranging a surprise party for Lee, and truthfully, he could hardly contain his own excitement! That would have to wait until later though, if he wanted his schemes to pull through correctly.

Wiping his brow, the Beautiful Blue Beast of Konoha looked over at his student and grinned.

"Lee, today is a special day." He said.

Lee nodded and grinned enthusiastically.

"Today is very special, Gai-sensei. I'm honored that you remembered!"

Gai tilted his head backward and laughed. "Of course I remember! How could I possibly forget that today is the day we promised Tsunade-sama we would talk with the youthful Academy students about the responsibilities of being a shinobi!" He answered happily.

"H…hai," Lee muttered, slowing his pace down a bit, "But, sensei, isn't there something else that you remember about this day?"

Gai-sensei pretended to think hard, tapping his chin with his forefinger as he ran.

"Hmm…Ah, yes!"

Lee's eyes brightened at his sensei's declaration…

"We're going to help decorate the village for the annual Fall Festival next week! Isn't this an exciting day?"

…and drooped again after he had spoken.

The two ran the rest of their lap in silence, considering Lee wasn't really in the mood for conversation. Had Gai-sensei truly forgotten? That wasn't possible, was it?

Lee stole a glance over at his oblivious sensei, who was grinning madly. Yes, it appeared to be true: Gai-sensei had forgotten Lee's birthday!

ooooo

Haruno Sakura sighed as she walked down the dirt-covered road in the direction of the Hokage Monument. Today was a special day for one of her best friends. It was Lee-san's birthday, and she was planning on attending the surprise party that Gai-sensei was planning for that evening, but she had no idea what she was going to give him!

_What am I going to do…?'_

Her last hope was in asking advice of Shizune-san, Tsunade-sama's loyal best friend and assistant. Shizune-san had saved Sakura more than once in situations like these. Yes, when training to become a better shinobi in order to assist Naruto in tracking Sasuke down, Tsunade-sama was the best teacher. However, when dealing with tricky matters of shopping and outfits, Shizune-san was the only one she could turn to.

"Sakura-chaaaaan!"

Sakura was startled out of her thoughts when a shrill, yet happy voice reached her ears in the form of a shout. She quickly glanced behind her to find none other than…

"Naruto, you scared me!" She said, placing her hand over her heart to steady its irregular beating.

"Gomen, Sakura-chan, I'm just really excited about tonight!"

Sakura gasped and quickly slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Shhh! Lee-san could be anywhere! You don't want to spoil the surprise, do you?" She whispered.

Naruto shook his head frantically from side to side.

"No way! I can't wait to see the look on Fuzzy Brow's face when he walks in the door tonight and sees everyone-"

"Naruto, you're shouting again!"

The blonde clamped his own hand over his mouth to shut himself up.

"Oops. Oi! It's Shikamaru!" Naruto laughed aloud and waved at the chuunin across the street from them. A sweat drop appeared behind Sakura's pink head at Naruto's random behavior. She didn't have long to glare at him, though, because Shikamaru was now walking over to meet them.

"Ohayou, Shikamaru-kun." Sakura greeted him poliltely.

"Yeah," and a nod was Shikamaru's response. It was simply too troublesome to greet his friends the proper way. But then again…

Shikamaru glanced over at the orange-clad genin who was standing next to him.

He wasn't the only one who got away with things like that.

"Hey, what did you guys get Lee for his birthday?" He asked.

Naruto grinned and excitedly blurted out, "I got him a gift certificate to Ichiraku!"

Sakura face-faulted once again. But…_It's better than what I have for Lee-san right now.'_

_Surprise, surprise…'_ Shikamaru thought, rolling his eyes.

"Hmm? Sakura-chan, daijoubu ka?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side while staring at his only teammate in concern.

"Nani? Hai, daijoubu." Sakura muttered, plastering a fake smile on her face. There was no need to drag those two into her problems, after all. Besides, what would Naruto tell her to buy for Lee, another free dinner at a ramen stand? And Shikamaru would undoubtedly…um…

"What are you giving Lee for his birthday, Shikamaru-kun?" Sakura seriously wondered.

"Well, we got him a pair of jeans. Me and Ino, I mean." He said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

Sakura grinned evilly.

"You _and_ Ino?" She asked. Of course she knew they were going out, Ino was her best friend after all. She just liked seeing a lazy guy like Shikamaru getting flustered.

Which happened immediately, to Sakura's liking.

_Inner Sakura: Shannaro!_

"Yeah," Shikamaru said with a blush as he stared at the ground, which was getting very interesting, by the way.

Naruto ignored Sakura's little spazz-attack and stared at Shikamaru blankly.

"Jeans? As in blue jeans? Pants?"

Shikamaru sighed. This was getting to be a troublesome conversation.

"Yes, blue jeans. Ino said he needed a change in his attire."

Sakura nodded in approval.

Naruto frowned. "What's wrong with the green jumpsuit?"

Sakura and Shikamaru's disturbed glares were interrupted when Yamanaka Ino spotted them from across the street.

"Shika-chan!" she called to her boyfriend as she jogged over to her three friends.

Shikamaru groaned and rolled his eyes. "Ino, I told you to stop calling me that."

Ino ignored him.

"Ohayou, Sakura-chan, Naruto."

Sakura smiled at her best friend. "Nice gift idea, Ino. Do you think he'll wear them?"

Ino smirked. "He'd better! I spent a lot of my hard-earned money on them. They're a good brand, too. It would be quite a waste if he didn't."

"You mean _my_ hard-earned money." Shikamaru muttered. He was ignored again.

"So, what brings you here, Ino-chan?" Sakura cheerily asked.

Ino gasped. "Oh, that reminds me!" She turned on her heel to glare at Shikamaru. "You promised you'd help me run my shift at the flower shop today."

He blinked, unfazed. "I know. I was on my way over before I ran into them." He nodded his head toward Naruto and Sakura.

"Whatever, we're late!" She shouted as she grabbed his hand and tugged on him.

"Yare, yare." He muttered, allowing her to lead him in the direction of the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

"Ja Ne, Ino-chan, Shikamaru-kun!" Sakura shouted.

"See you tonight!" Ino called over her shoulder. Shikamaru waved with his free hand, never bothering to turn around.

Naruto and Sakura watched them leave in silence.

Finally, Naruto glanced at Sakura again.

"So, what do you want to do?"

Sakura half-smiled apologetically.

"Gomen, Naruto. I have to go talk with Shizune-san about something."

"Aa," He nodded.

"I'll see you later on tonight," she said as she began walking toward the monument once again. "And don't forget to _be quiet._"

"I won't, Sakura-chan!" He shouted, turning on his heel and running toward Ichiraku.

Sakura sighed. _You just did…'_

ooooo

Lee sighed as he lifted a dusty box of decorations out of the storage room of the Hokage's building. He was depressed. Gai-sensei wasn't the only one who had forgotten his birthday. The entire village had. Even Neji and Tenten.

And even though they had forgotten, Lee would never have tried to remind them. He wouldn't want them to feel bad for forgetting about him, but still…

This was turning out to be the worst birthday ever.

"A…a…CHOO!" Lee sneezed as the dust from the party-box invaded his nose. Team Gai had already visited Iruka-sensei's class as they had promised Tsunade-sama, and now Gai had sent Lee to the old, dark and…creepy storage room to get some decorations. They were completing the second part of their mission that day: decorating the village for the Fall Festival.

Lee slowly inched his way back to the small, musky stairway that would lead him back upstairs. Gai-sensei had told him to bring as much as he could carry up to the new mess hall Tsunade-sama had had constructed in the building.

Well, one box was all Lee felt like carrying right now.

But why had Gai-sensei asked him to bring it to the mess hall?

Why all alone?

Lee pondered these things as he slowly walked up the many steps that would lead him back to civilization.

ooooo

Sakura nervously kicked her feet at the spotless floor of the mess hall and slowly rocked forward in her chair. Lee-san was expected to be coming in at any moment now, but that was not the reason she was so fidgety. She glanced up and looked around at all of the people who were gathered for the surprise birthday party:

There was Shino, Kiba, and Hinata at one table. Shino was busy commanding his bugs to sneakily bite Kiba, who was oblivious to the pain in his hand and was staring at Hinata, who was wondering why Akamaru was glaring and growling at Shino.

At another table sat Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Asuma-sensei, and Kurenai-sensei. Kurenai-sensei was silently observing the craftiness (hoping to someday find the courage to act that way with a certain someone) of Ino who was busy flirting with Shikamaru, who was attempting to play a game of shogi with Asuma-sensei, who was watching in awe as Chouji downed a thirteenth plate of food.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at that scene.

At a third table, Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei were facing each other in a deadly match of janken while Shizune-san, along with Tonton, was trying to persuade Tsunade-sama to put the jug of sake down.

Tenten-san and Neji-san were standing by the doorway. They were most likely the lookouts, because every now and then, Tenten would ask Neji something, who would respond by shaking his head.

She silently observed a few other tables before she caught Shizune-san's stare. The older woman winked at her before turning back to the more important issue of keeping Tsunade-sama from becoming drunk and violent.

Sakura blushed as she remembered what Shizune-san had suggested for her to do. It would take a lot of guts, yet it was so simple; and something that Lee-san no doubt would enjoy very much', as Shizune-san had said.

But…when the time came, would she be able to?

Unfortunately, Sakura had no time left to ponder this matter. She watched as Neji-san activated his Byakugan and peered through the wall. He quickly tapped Tenten-san, who nodded and rushed to turn out the lights.

This was everyone's cue to be quiet.

ooooo

Lee paused after trudging up the long stairway to tap his shoes against the floor, knocking the clumps of dust out of the creases in the bottoms of them. He set the box down and stretched his now aching arms. Before bending down to pick up the box again, he raised an eyebrow at the dark and silent room in front of him.

Why was everything so quiet?

Oh well, Gai-sensei had told him to bring the decorations to the mess hall, so that's what he would do. Taking the final few steps toward the room, he opened the door and-

"SURPRISE!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEE!!"

-fell backward in shock.

Gai-sensei was the first one to greet him, guffawing as loud as he could.

"Lee, were you surprised?" He asked, offering his student his hand.

Lee took it and as he was helped to his feet, he stared in shock at all the people who had come to his party.

Gai-sensei raised an eyebrow at his pupil's silence.

"Lee?"

Rock Lee's eyes filled with grateful tears and he smiled a watery smile.

"A-Arigatou, Minna-san!" He shouted.

ooooo

The party had been long and fun and wonderful. It was during his party that Lee realized just how much everyone really cared. There was dancing, (which turned out to be a horrifying sight for the young genins, courtesy of Gai-sensei's bazaar style) gift exchanging, cake, party games, and a lot of talking and laughing and just good old-fashioned fun!

Lee had personally thanked everyone as they left the party, and now it was his own turn to leave. Accompanied by Gai-sensei and his best friend and rival, Neji, he began to walk out of the mess hall-

"Lee-san?"

-but was stopped by a timid female voice.

The three males turned around when they heard Sakura call him.

"Oh, Sakura-san!" Lee smiled when he realized just who had called him.

Sakura smiled and waved at him.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to you tonight, did I? Gomen nasai." He muttered apologetically as he walked back into the building to be with her.

"Lee, we'll go on ahead." Gai said.

Lee nodded. "Hai, good night, Gai-sensei and Neji!"

"Hn."

"See you tomorrow, bright and early, my youthful student!"

Neji rolled his eyes at his so-called sensei's behavior and led the way away from the kunoichi and his best friend.

When she was sure the other two were gone, Sakura blushed and shyly looked up at the young spandex-wearing birthday boy in front of her.

"L-Lee-san, I…"

Lee tilted his head and patiently waited for her to continue.

Sakura glanced up and actually looked him in the eyes. He was smiling at her. She smiled back, her courage had finally been found.

"I never got to wish you a Happy Birthday,'" she said.

Lee smiled and shook his head. "That's all right, Sakura-san, you didn't have to-"

Sakura placed her hand on his cheek and leaned forward, touching her lips to his.

"Happy Birthday, Lee-san."

Today was a very special day.

**THE END**

A/N: It took me a lot longer than I thought to write this, so I'm not going to say much here, except that I'm tired! XD

As always, reviews are very much appreciated!

Until next time.


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